The offering was a central practice of daily rituals and collective ceremonies for Indigenous Colombians. Ceramic, jewelry, stone, shell, wood, cotton, emeralds, corn, tobacco, coca, and blood were elemental in the complex of rituals related to both individual and collective needs. 
  
Tumbaga (gold-copper alloy) figurines, called tunjos, were specifically cast and paired with other materials depending on the purpose and context of the offering. This would include the message, the spiritual being to whom it was addressed, the intention, the chosen place, the rite, the offerer, and the officiant. They were deposited in sacred places such as lagoons, caves, agricultural fields, mountain tops, temples, and shrines called cucas.